Improvement in belt-shifters



JOSEPH E. MUTCHLER, Oll GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN- Letters Patent No. 108,379, dated October 18, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN BELT-SHIFTERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same I, JOSEPH E. MU'roHLnn, of Grand Rapids, Kent county, Michigan, have invented certain Improvements in Belt-Shifters, of, which the following is a specification.

Figure l is a side, and

Figure 2, an end elevation.

'lhis invention has for its object the shifting of a belt from a wheel in motion to a stationary holder, instead of' to a loose pulley, the device usually employed; and

v It relates to a series of rollers, which 'are sustained l in a curved row between two seniicircular plates, .in

which the journals 4of' the rollers are mounted, said plates and rollers forming together a holdcr,that is placed by the side of any wheel which bears a belt, upon which the belt may be shifted whenever desired, by means of' a mechanism to be hereinafter dcscribed.

In the drawinga is a beltbearing motor-wheel, whose shaft is mounted in standards b e: is a wheel driven by the belt d, that runs over the :n-ain: wheela;

e; e are the two semicircular plates; and

'5, the rollers mounted in the saine, that together tttrru the belt-holder, the latter being sustained in position by the side of the wheel (t, by securing the outer plate e in any suitable mannerto the outer' standard I).

h is a plate, placed between the plates e, and having orifices, through which the rollers ipass, the plate h being made to slide on the rollers, toward or -frorn the wheel a, by means of a forked lever, L, whose fulcrnm is in the post l, that is secured to and projects upward from the outer plate e, and which is jointed,

at the ends oi' its branches, to points near the corners of the plate h. v

mis a bar, 'projecting horizontally past tbe-wheel a, from a point near the upper corner. of the platesh.,

that brings'the bar just belowrthe' upper branch o! the belt d. v

n n are guides mounted on pins that extend upward from the bar m, one at each end of the belt d.

On throwing -the upper part QE the lever 7a toward thc pulley a, the .forks of the lever draw the plate h, bar in., and guides n,"and, by means of said bar and guides, the belt Z also, away from thewheel a, shifting the belt upon the roller i.

As the are in which said rollers are placed is of less radius than the wheel a, the belt is loosened when it is drawn upon the rollers, and is, consequently, permitted to gather itself together, preparatory to fresh tension, no loose pulley being necessary, andthe belt remains idle, subject to no wear, tear, or strain, and the power necessary 'to drive the loose 'pulley is saved.

Frictionrollers are mounted in the side of the plate h that is nearest the belt d, in order to meet the edge ofthe latter.

C latin.

The belt-holder, consisting of the plates e and rollers t', arranged in connection with the shifting mechanism, consisting ot' the plate h, lever le, bar m, and guides a, as described.

JOSEPH E. MUTGHLER.

Witnesses L. It. ATWATER, GEO. H. TUTTLE. 

